Pacific War 3.0 (No Encircled please!)

[rader]

I'm not sure if I'm going to write that much of an AAR, but adding this a placeholder in case I decide to keep it up. I've really enjoyed reading others' AAR recently and I came back to the game in November after taking a long hiatus since the Greyjoy/Jzanes games. This is my third PBEM campaign, always with Japan.

It's scenario 2.

Encircled (Richard) has been a wonderful opponent and we're in mid-June 1942 so far. Japan took most of the perimeter by April 1942 and now we've pretty much just been cleaning up China. I thought long and hard about Australia and/or India and pretty much concluded that they weren't worth the fuel cost to try to take. Instead, I'm hoping to see what happens if we build up an effective defense and just let the Allies come to me. Other than that, we have been making a significant effort against China and are now approaching Chungking.

[jdsrae]

Welcome back and good luck!

[RangerJoe]

Welcome back! Your game against Greyjoy is what got me interested in this game.

[PaxMondo]

rader: Welcome BACK!!

If you read castor troys's current AAR, you will see what profit there is in taking India ….

[rader]

We're about the begin the siege of Chungking. I'm a little nervous in flinging my troops in an aggressive assault on the city in order to put in the effort needed to take it. If he's down to just the (400?) free supply production from the city (assuming all resources/fuel) gone, what will happen to his army over time?

[rader]

To put this in perspective, he's got pretty much the entire Chinese army in the hex. He fell back in good order to the city. I do think he's suffering from supply woes, but would still mount a punishing defense if I tried to storm the city.

[rader]

The other observation I have at this point is that (of course) the 4Es are pretty much unstoppable (Zeros and Oscars can't make a dent), and that his P-38E sweeps are deadly.

Generally in the past, I've been very aggressive about seeking out and destroying the Allied air forces by pursuing them and bombing their airfields. Here, I'm trying to go for a more quality over quantity approach and basically never sending my air on offensive missions over his territory unless I have air superiority (e.g., China). In the long run, I'd like to conserve my pilots and force him to lose his over my territory. But right now our planes (Zeros and Oscars) are just too crappy. The first Nicks and Tojos are starting to filter in but I'm not expecting them to make an enormous difference.

Also, he uses night bombing a lot and the best I can do is throw off his aim while losing a bunch of zeros and oscars to his 4E defensive fire. There doesn't seem to be an effective counter to night bombing at all. Maybe late war radar-equipped night fighters?

[jdsrae]

ORIGINAL: rader

We're about the begin the siege of Chungking. I'm a little nervous in flinging my troops in an aggressive assault on the city in order to put in the effort needed to take it. If he's down to just the (400?) free supply production from the city (assuming all resources/fuel) gone, what will happen to his army over time?

My first attack at Chungking did nothing but disable one of my best Divisions and the forts stayed at 6!
Continuous air and ground bombardment seems to be keeping Chungking out of supply. Evidence being the absence of flak overhead.
Issue your combat engineers with a double ration of sake and wish them good luck.

[rader]

Here's a list of ships sunk so far. Not much since the days of fighting for the SRA. We've been sparring a bit near Ndeni/Tulagi, but not much else since then. The two CLAAs are almost certainly not sunk. They each took a single torpedo a few days ago from a Japanese destroyer, but damage looked moderate at best.

[rader]

And aircraft losses. The Zero is by far the most downed airplane type but it's also been doing almost all the work for the Japanese.

[rader]

Only once have we ever seen an allied CV with a scout plane and they have never been committed to battle. I'm wondering if he's going to hold them back until he has Hellcats, or maybe even carrier superiority in 1943. I'm likewise being cautious with my carriers and won't commit them to battle except under favorable circumstances, like if he makes a major move in 1942...

[rader]

Here's the first bombardment of Chungking on June 22, 1942 (1 year Barbarossa anniversary!).

I don't think I've ever seen so many troops in one place. This could get messy...

[RangerJoe]

Stacking limits? Enough supply? Bomb and bombard for a little while.

[jdsrae]

The good news is there won’t be enough supply produced locally to feed that many troops [:D]

[rader]

No stacking limits. He's definitely not rolling in supply but I'm not sure how bad the shortage is. I just stopped the resource production this turn so not sure how long reserves will produce with his industry (not allowed strat bombing due to HR). Other than that, he's got the 400 free supply per turn. Definitely not enough, but not sure what the lack of supply will actually do to his troops. Probably enough for bare survival?

[RangerJoe]

Every attack increases his supply demand by 10%. LRCAP to slow down any transport of supplies.

[jdsrae]

I read somewhere that troops with zero supply fight at 25% effectiveness.
That would drop 13k raw AV to 3250, but then forts and terrain bonuses increase it again.
Continuous air and artillery bombardment should also help reduce morale of defenders, increase their fatigue and disruption.
You will just need to cross your fingers and hope that your combat engineers reduce the forts in each attack...
I recommend waiting a few days so your troops can dig themselves field fortifications before attacking. I have no proof, but I assume it helps protect them from defensive artillery fire.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: jdsrae

I read somewhere that troops with zero supply fight at 25% effectiveness.
That would drop 13k raw AV to 3250, but then forts and terrain bonuses increase it again.
Continuous air and artillery bombardment should also help reduce morale of defenders, increase their fatigue and disruption.
You will just need to cross your fingers and hope that your combat engineers reduce the forts in each attack...
I recommend waiting a few days so your troops can dig themselves field fortifications before attacking. I have no proof, but I assume it helps protect them from defensive artillery fire.

The leadership and experience of the Chinese is so poor that it pretty much offsets the forts and terrain bonuses. Bring lots of artillery and tanks to ensure you have more firepower.

I don't think field forts help if you are attacking. Even base fixed forts don't help the troops who shock attack (charge in the open).

[witpqs]

Good luck!

[wifrader]

I'm a bit torn between the mass human wave assaults needed to take the city (how badly will this shred my army?) vs simply starving him out for 6 months to a year before beginning the battle in earnest. I don't think it makes sense to start attacking unless I want to commit to it because the first will be the worst. If we're able to drop the forst below 2-3, the endgame should be easy. It's the start that's hard. Still assembling the assault force so I have until then to contemplate.